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CU-Boulder faculty group asks for retraction of statement on Patti Adler

By Amy Bounds, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
12/29/2013 03:40:13 PM MST

Updated:
12/29/2013 05:37:37 PM MST

Patti Adler
(Courtesy photo)

The Boulder chapter of the American Association of University Professors is calling on the University of Colorado to retract statements about tenured sociology professor Patti Adler.

In a statement made Sunday, the group urges CU to retract Provost Russell Moore's statement to the university community, saying Moore “strongly implied that Professor Adler had sexually harassed her students.” The group also asked CU to issue a public apology to Adler and allow her to resume teaching without further reviews.

CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said a retraction will not be forthcoming.

“It was a statement that emphasized the importance of student safety alongside academic freedom,” he said. “Those are two values we're very committed to.”

In his statement earlier this month, Moore wrote: “A number of you have raised concerns about academic freedom and how it may connect to this situation. Academic freedom protects faculty who teach controversial and uncomfortable/unpopular subjects. However, academic freedom does not allow faculty members to violate the University's sexual harassment policy by creating a hostile environment for their teaching assistants, or for their students attending the class.”

The controversy stems from a skit on prostitution. Adler, who teaches the popular “Deviance in U.S. Society” class, asks undergraduate teaching assistants to portray prostitutes in a skit as part of one lecture.

She told the Daily Camera last week that the skit was deemed a “risk” to the university by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment. She said she has been given an ultimatum by the university: take a buyout and retire immediately, or have the course reviewed by the sociology department.

The Boulder chapter said in its statement that CU is violating Adler's academic freedom.

“While academic freedom cannot be absolute, the suspension of due process, on the grounds that some students may have felt pressured to volunteer for a classroom exercise, makes a mockery of the principles of academic freedom,” according to the statement.

Last week, the Colorado chapter of the American Association of University Professors also issued a statement in support of Adler and condemned her treatment by CU.

According to the statement, members of the association feel that CU's treatment of Adler is a violation of academic freedom and an “unwarranted infringement on Professor's Adler's professional obligation to choose effective instructional methods to communicate disciplinary knowledge in her classroom.”

The association's mission is to advance academic freedom and ensure higher education's contribution to the common good, according to its website. The association includes national, state and university chapters. All three now have communicated their support for Adler.

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